‘Okay … you worked that out. Both victims were reasonably slim, but had a tendency to be heavier around the hips and backside. I think that may be his selection criterion. Particularly given the fact that he removes flesh from that part of the body.’

‘So why is he selecting them?’ asked Scholz. ‘Is it because he feels sexually attracted to that body shape, or is it simply because he’s picking out the best cut of beef?’

‘Both,’ said Fabel. ‘Let me tell you something about cannibalism …’

7.

He shouldn’t have visited the website again. Now the hunger burned in him and he could not bear to look in Ekatherina’s direction. He could tell she had picked up on a tension in the kitchen and she obviously thought she or her work had somehow displeased him, which made matters worse because she now sought every opportunity to speak with him. But Ansgar could not bear her presence. However, within the confines of the kitchen, close proximity, even brushing against each other, was unavoidable. Sometimes she was so close that he could smell her.

Ansgar felt cursed. He wished that he were like other men, normal men. It would be all so uncomplicated. She would let him fuck her. Or not. But the sweetly obscene images, the dangerous, delicious fantasies, would not plague him. Ansgar’s work didn’t help, either. To see Ekatherina handle meat, split a joint with a cleaver, trim the fat from it with a knife, fillet a breast of chicken, pulling apart yielding flesh; all these simple, innocuous acts became an erotic torment for Ansgar. But what tormented him most of all was the forbidden, dangerous, ineffable idea that maybe, just maybe, he might actually be able to fulfil his fantasy. That he might be able to do what he wanted with Ekatherina.

As his mind wandered so did his eyes. They fell on Ekatherina. They caressed every inch of her voluptuous, curving figure. Then his stare found hers. She was looking directly at him. And smiling.

As if she knew.

8.

The restaurant to which Scholz took Fabel was in Dagobertstrasse, in the Altstadt area of Cologne. It was housed in the ground floor of an elegant gable-ended building.

‘What do you recommend?’ asked Fabel.

‘This place has quite a reputation. A new chef came in a year or so ago and has worked wonders. And they’re starting their Karneval menu … but I suppose you’ll want fish,’ said Benni, frowning as he searched the menu. ‘We’re big on meat dishes here …’

‘Believe it or not,’ said Fabel, with a smile, ‘we do eat things other than fish in the North.’